No NHL distractions to overshadow Bulldogs. Will fans bite?

There’s something a little different about the local hockey landscape as the Hamilton Bulldogs get set to face off for another AHL season in the next few days. If you listen really closely you’ll be able to hear it.

Silence.

For the first time since the year they won the Calder Cup, the Dogs go into a season with basically no talk about Hamilton getting an NHL team rumbling loudly enough in the background to drown them out. There’s no billionaire owner talking about moving a team here, no rallies to bring one here, no new website pushing for one here, nothing.

You can argue all day long about whether this is a good or bad thing, but for those who’ve put real money into hockey in this city and kept the lights on at Copps Coliseum while bigger dreams swirled, this has to be a bit of a relief. Even though the owner’s loath to talk much about this decidedly new environment, mostly because he says he can’t really remember life without the noise.

“After a while, you get numb to it,” says Michael Andlauer. “It’s always been there.”

He’s not far off.

It was at the beginning of the 2006 AHL season that Jim Balsillie first exploded onto the Hamilton scene when he put in an offer to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. Suddenly all the basically dormant dreams of local NHL fans were reinvigorated. The NHL was back on the front burner and, in many eyes around here, the AHL was officially passé.

Unfortunately for Andlauer and his franchise, this situation corresponded with the Bulldogs’ championship season, drawing more than a little attention away from a team that should’ve been embraced. Because sports is Darwinian, perceived strength won out.

That said, the Penguins’ bid went kaput. But just as the Dogs were in the process of winning the Calder Cup in the spring of 2007, news of Balsillie’s interest in the Nashville Predators caught fire. Whatever momentum and excitement was created by the AHL title was immediately funnelled right into the NHL bid.

Then last summer — the time on the calendar the Bulldogs try to sell sponsorships and group tickets — the city was understandably going goofy over the Phoenix Coyotes soap opera. The NHL seemed closer than ever. With just one sweep of a judge’s pen, we would’ve been in the big time. That once again left the AHL franchise gasping for what little oxygen was left in the room. Which wasn’t much.

Which brings us to this season. So far there’s nothing. Yet.

Of course, many folks here haven’t given up the dream so they’d love the storm clouds to roll in again. Which could happen if Daryl Katz — he of the Edmonton Oilers whose name was tied to the city in the summer as part of the stadium fiasco — reappears on the scene as part of an expansion bid. Possibly sooner rather than later.

But for now it just feels like the electricity has been completely sucked out of the NHL-to-Hamilton movement. All the talk of expansion or relocation in Canada now is centred on Winnipeg and Quebec City, especially the latter where the federal government is talking of helping pay for a new arena. And where a Bring-Back-The-Nordiques rally drew as many as 60,000 blue-covered fans last weekend.

“Now that’s passion,” Andlauer says.

He’s not sure if this might create an environment where fans here see the way the hockey winds appear to be blowing and decide to give his team a try because it’s the best hockey they’re going to get. Then perhaps, in the long term, discover they actually like it. Andlauer hopes that’s the case.

It’s a long shot. After all, Copps wasn’t exactly being sold out every night even before 2006.

The owner’s remaining optimistic, though.

“I think Hamilton’s a fantastic AHL city,” he says.

The conditions may never be better than right now to find out if he’s right.